1. close reading STRATEGY
Objective:
To practice the skill of close reading
To practice “annotating” a text
close reading STRATEGY

2. ELA Common Core State Standard 6.1 – 8.1:
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly, and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
The Close Reading Process helps students to master this standard by providing text evidence to support their answers.

3. WHAT is close reading?
CLOSE READING is a reading strategy that helps you better understand a text.
It helps you to:
dig deeper into what you are reading
to respond to text-dependent questions
to back up answers with textual evidence

4. Close reading helps readers tO
Analyze and interpret the text
Answer text based questions
Make claims/statements about a text
Gather evidence for claims made based on a text

5. ANALYSIS Analysis means: Breaking something down into its parts
Examining how the parts fit/work together
What does each part do?
How do they relate to one another?
How do they work together?

6. Analysis of a text Close reading not only helps us to find
the meaning of the text, but the purpose is to
figure out how the author created that
meaning.

7. ANALYSIS OF A TEXT Analyzing a text means:
Breaking the text down into its parts, such as:
Topic
Main Idea
Key Details
Vocabulary (Words and Phrases, Figurative Language)
Text Structure
Author’s Purpose
Asking: How do these parts work together to create meaning?

8. CLOSE READING STEPS:
Read the entire text first, beginning to end (to get the gist of the passage)
Number the paragraphs.
Chunk the Text (break it down into smaller sections)
Re-read one section at a time.
Analyze the section for:
Main Ideas and Key Details
Language (Unfamiliar vocabulary; Important terms; Imagery (mood); Characterization; Figurative Language)
Text Structures: organization patterns (cause-and-effect; compare and contrast; sequential, etc.) sentence structure, use of punctuation, etc).
Author’s Purpose—what is the author trying to accomplish in this section?
Collaborative Discussion w/ Peers.
Share and compare interpretations; cite specific evidence to support your statements; pose questions; integrate ideas and attempt to reach a concensus

9. Summary:
The main purpose of Close Reading is to help you to develop their own understanding. The strategy will provide you with a structured reading process. Through the process, you will arrive at your own interpretations and understandings.
You will be strong, independent, strategic and analytic readers!

10. CLOSE READING: PART TWO
Text Annotation
Text annotation is an important step in the Close Reading process. While you read, you will learn make marks right on the page (or on post-it notes) to aid your understanding.

11. How to Annotate a text
When you are asked to annotate a text, you are being asked to mark-up the text and take notes in order to uncover the meaning of a text.
Special Marks to Use When Doing a Close Reading:
Number the paragraphs to find information easily!
Draw a line between each section (chunk the text into smaller parts)
Read the entire text once to get the flow of it!
Use symbols to remind yourself of certain things:
* - Something important
0 – Circle words you don’t know
? – something you’re unsure of or don’t get
! – Something that surprises you
 - something that you enjoyed or liked for any reason
 – something you disagree with or don’t like
∞ - when you make a connection between the text and
something else
In your own words, write a very brief summary of the section in the margin
Collaborative Discussion – talk about your work in a small group
Repeat this process for each section of the text.

12. How to Annotate a text Left Margin Right Margin
Summarize what you think the paragraph is about in 10 words or less.
“Chunk” the paragraph –
State what you believe to be the main idea.
Dig deeper! Describe the author’s purpose for writing the text (to inform, entertain, persuade). You may also want to comment on the author’s diction (word choice) and establish how it functions in the text.